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Dual-mounted scopes?


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I see quite a lot of dual mounted scope setups around and have questions. Firstly yes, I get it for imaging with a main scope and guiding with the other but for visual, what are the advantages? Is it the convenience of having different configurations side by side? such as a widefield, low power scope next to something with a bit more focal length? Different views of the same target in a handy setup. It makes sense for solar, white light next to Ha, and the majority of these setups I see are on big alt-az mounts with both scopes pointing in the same general direction, are the twin scopes aligned or do you have to tweak the controls when changing over views? Is it worth getting some kind of alignment device for one of the scopes? Do people use a side by side setup with an equatorial mount? Eyepiece position could be awkward I guess, but wouldn't matter for imaging. 

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5 minutes ago, Franklin said:

Is it the convenience of having different configurations side by side? such as a widefield, low power scope next to something with a bit more focal length? Different views of the same target in a handy setup.

This is my motivation though i haven't had a whole lot of opportunity to exercise it this year through lack of clear nights justifying big set-up's. For me it's also mono/bino at the same time. I missed planet season last year w.r.t. dual scope capability but i'm looking forward to having mono/bino capability in parallel later this year. 

So far i haven't seen the glaring need for ultra precise alignment of saddles (because one side so far has anyway been at  low powers). That may change at higher power both sides but then again it takes a few moments for me to move sides and get back to the eyepiece anyway. I don't have a driven mount.

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I think you’ve answered the ‘why’ question quite successfully yourself there @Franklin 👍. Widefield vs longer focal length/larger aperture such as a small apo and an SCT or Mak, and yes, solar WL side by side with Ha is one of my favourites. Being able to compare two similar scopes is also much easier, I’ve done this with the Genesis vs FL102S or Tak for example.

As for alignment, you normally have some adjustment for altitude to get the scopes aligned in that respect, but az is trickier and to get exactly right is does normally need some sort of alignment plate. Most of the time I don’t bother, particularly if using a widefield scope on one side, but I must say the for Solar having them exactly aligned is much better, particularly for a frac vs PST where the orientations are different, matching features is much easier with perfect alignment.

To do this, I recently acquired a really nice ADM Maxguider adjustment plate which I use on the AZ100 and it works really well.

Some discussion here:

As an aside, I find that balance front to back is easier with two scopes mounted.

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 I've seen some nice duel mounted set-ups also, and even considered it on occasion.  Having two complementary scopes side by side seems quite appealing at times. The trouble for me as a purely visual observer who likes refractors, and also one who prefers equatorial mounts, is that I'd be tempted to use them at the same time. There can however be some subtle side effects to this observing method.

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My dual setup is an 8” SCT and a 4” refractor. They give different perspectives on the same object which can be both enjoyable and educational, giving more information about the object, the relative capabilities of the scopes and the conditions. It’s a bit like zooming the aperture instead of zooming the magnification! If I’ve got an observing plan for the night though, I tend to stick to one scope, as I want to concentrate on the objects and not get distracted by equipment. The scopes line up at lowish power, but I could probably get it closer with some shimming here and there. As an aside the dual scope setup actually makes my Skytee mount work better, better balanced in azimuth and less susceptible to balance problems in altitude. 

Edited by RobertI
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I sometimes pair an FS60 with a Mewlon on an Ercole mount. I actually use the FS60 as a finder! I like to find targets manually, I don't use goto! It's also nice to see the object in a widefield context, assuming the FS60 has enough aperture to see it!

Malcolm 

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This was my take on dual mounting my 2 scopes. Not what is the norm and a bit heath Robinson I guess but it all works great. Nice for some planetary and lunar imaging and visual with the SM90 and Widefield with my ST80 

Yes a bit of realignment when moving between one and the other if you wish to look at the same target but I generally do some lunar and planetary imaging with the SM90 and my zwo asi120mc-s and lunar with dslr. Then just concentrate on visual with the ST80. 

Lee 

 

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I am putting together a dual imaging rig with a 90mm f4.8 and a 70mm f6, so similar focal lengths. Plan is to shoot OSC on the GT71 and Ha Oiii Sii narrowwband on the TS CF 90mm

I just picked up a Vixen adjustable XY mount to allow alignment of the GT71

Rough mock up, I've refined this from this early set up:

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Just like @RobertI has posted above, my wife and I also have an 8”sct and a 4” f7 ed refractor. The refractor with 2” eyepieces provides wonderful wide field views that the sct simply cannot provide. Fainter targets such as M13 are fantastic, in the refractor there is no mistaking what it is, then in the sct the stars are really starting to resolve. It is, for us really great to have two different views of the same target if that makes sense. 
Our mount is a Skywatcher az-eq5  and when dual mounting in az mode the telescopes are approximately 18”-24” apart when balanced correctly, so we can sit side by side and observe which is nice, although two mounts would provide more freedom, we really like our setup.

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